That new blade for the saw was really amazing, as in the video it took seconds to finish cutting through the bolt, I had spend a good half hour with the crappy blade and only made it about 2mm through. So I can highly recommend Diablo carbide tooth saw blades.
At least one of the circlips has worn a shiny ring around its UJ cap so to me that implies the UJ needs changing. Do you get a knock on a light throttle when going around a corner? The half shaft UJs should be set very tight, if necessary using oversize circlips. I'm not a fan of greasable UJs because let's be frank, who's going to struggle underneath the car trying to grease them?! To my knowledge Triumph did not fit greasable UJs. You had an epic time with that rear trunnion bolt - you are quite right, it was incorrectly assembled. The smaller thin metal washer should sit underneath the nylon insert, then the nylon bushes go in, then the rubber seal goes around the outer shoulders of the nylon bushes and then the larger outer dust washer completes it. I smear some silicone grease on the bolt to stop it rusting solid onto the tube. You did a splendid job on welding that elongated hole up in the vertical link. The rear end of these Triumphs is a pain in the a*se! But when everything is working well I think it gives a good result. Some high quality adjustable shocks (set to their softest setting) provide a very nice ride actually.
Thanks Steve, I haven't had it on the road in good enough condition to find those sort of noises. But I am specifically leaving things that are still serviceable for later, otherwise I will never get it out of the garage. I still have the diff to overhaul so I will likely look at universals then. As for shocks, I'm not sure if I can fit adjustable ones here without certification. But the car can with a set of Gaz front shocks as spares, so I would like to get some matching ones for the rear at some stage if I can fit them.
@@jamesfromwellington Yes, GAZ are good, or Spax. Even better would be Koni. All should be set to their softest setting for road use. One thing to bear in mind is that although you can obtain shock absorbers under the original part number from the usual specialists, they are very cheap and not really the same thing as Triumph fitted, which in many cases I believe were 'Girling Gas' (which were very good and far far better than what you would now obtain under the old part numbers). So the true original equipment shocks have been unavailable for many years which would surely allow, with a bit of common sense applied, good quality aftermarket shocks to come into the picture. Koni were making aftermarket shocks for the Spitfire when the car was still in production. I don't know how stringent the authorities are about such matters in NZ though. Thanks for the videos, I'm enjoying watching you go through all the jobs I've done recently on mine!
Yeah I just double checked, to be legal on the road it would need certifying. That is probably not a big issue to get done but it's extra cost, a non standard id plate riveted to the bulkhead and the possibility of them not being happy with previous crash repair. The current rear shocks seem in good enough condition and I think are locally sourced aftermarket one. I'll stick with them for now
That new blade for the saw was really amazing, as in the video it took seconds to finish cutting through the bolt, I had spend a good half hour with the crappy blade and only made it about 2mm through. So I can highly recommend Diablo carbide tooth saw blades.
At least one of the circlips has worn a shiny ring around its UJ cap so to me that implies the UJ needs changing. Do you get a knock on a light throttle when going around a corner? The half shaft UJs should be set very tight, if necessary using oversize circlips. I'm not a fan of greasable UJs because let's be frank, who's going to struggle underneath the car trying to grease them?! To my knowledge Triumph did not fit greasable UJs. You had an epic time with that rear trunnion bolt - you are quite right, it was incorrectly assembled. The smaller thin metal washer should sit underneath the nylon insert, then the nylon bushes go in, then the rubber seal goes around the outer shoulders of the nylon bushes and then the larger outer dust washer completes it. I smear some silicone grease on the bolt to stop it rusting solid onto the tube. You did a splendid job on welding that elongated hole up in the vertical link. The rear end of these Triumphs is a pain in the a*se! But when everything is working well I think it gives a good result. Some high quality adjustable shocks (set to their softest setting) provide a very nice ride actually.
Thanks Steve, I haven't had it on the road in good enough condition to find those sort of noises. But I am specifically leaving things that are still serviceable for later, otherwise I will never get it out of the garage. I still have the diff to overhaul so I will likely look at universals then.
As for shocks, I'm not sure if I can fit adjustable ones here without certification. But the car can with a set of Gaz front shocks as spares, so I would like to get some matching ones for the rear at some stage if I can fit them.
@@jamesfromwellington Yes, GAZ are good, or Spax. Even better would be Koni. All should be set to their softest setting for road use. One thing to bear in mind is that although you can obtain shock absorbers under the original part number from the usual specialists, they are very cheap and not really the same thing as Triumph fitted, which in many cases I believe were 'Girling Gas' (which were very good and far far better than what you would now obtain under the old part numbers). So the true original equipment shocks have been unavailable for many years which would surely allow, with a bit of common sense applied, good quality aftermarket shocks to come into the picture. Koni were making aftermarket shocks for the Spitfire when the car was still in production. I don't know how stringent the authorities are about such matters in NZ though. Thanks for the videos, I'm enjoying watching you go through all the jobs I've done recently on mine!
Yeah I just double checked, to be legal on the road it would need certifying. That is probably not a big issue to get done but it's extra cost, a non standard id plate riveted to the bulkhead and the possibility of them not being happy with previous crash repair. The current rear shocks seem in good enough condition and I think are locally sourced aftermarket one. I'll stick with them for now